House Cleaning Schedule

 Pre-baby you might say I was borderline obsessive/compulsive about housecleaning.  I took great pride in my pristine home!  Since our little man arrived, house cleaning has become almost non-existent.  For a borderline obsessive/compulsive, this is very frustrating!

For about a month, I had "create a cleaning schedule" written on my to do list.  One rare afternoon when Mr. Bean napped for more than 20 minutes, I created my cleaning schedule.  I listed everything around the house that  needed to be done.  Next, I determined how often these things needed doing.  Finally, I laid out a monthly cleaning rotation.  In order not to overwhelm myself and (hopefully) get the cleaning accomplished, I made my schedule in such a way that I only do one or two things a day, in addition to making dinner and cleaning the kitchen.Within the month, all major areas of our home will be clean and maybe I won't be embarrassed if someone drops by!  There are a few things not listed here that need to be done every couple months, every six months, and yearly.

(click on schedule for larger view)

While pregnant, I decided to start using natural cleaning products.  My favorite cleaning products are Method (so far) .  The Method tub n' tile cleaner works great.  I also like Method Good for Wood, and Granite Polish.  I tried a few different natural toilet bowl cleaners, but felt like my bathroom was smelly and went back to Clorox. I haven't tried Method's toilet bowl cleaner, as it is hard to find, but think I will order it online.

I have been using my cleaning schedule for two weeks.  Week one went well.  I am behind schedule on week two. I hope to catch up over the weekend, although this is a busy weekend.  This has also been a tough week for Mr. Bean who is cutting a tooth, refusing to nap, and totally melting down in the afternoon.  All in all, I feel good about the schedule and am going to try really hard to adhere to it!

My Baby's First Tooth

Mr. Bean is changing so much so quickly. I need to write down some of his milestones that I don't want to forget! When he was only five weeks old, Maika rolled from his tummy to his back. He really did not like tummy time! He has done it a few times since. On February 1, he put his little hands on my face on purpose. My heart completely melted!

Mr. Bean recently turned four months. I am amazed at how much he seems to have grown up in the past week! He acts more like a baby than like a newborn. He is enjoying tummy time more. Maika is reaching for toys and knows that he is the one causing them to move and light up. While on his tummy, he is lifting his bottom up.

Unfortunately, I discovered I should not eat mass quantities of dark chocolate. On Monday (Valentine's Day) my Valentine came home with a dozen roses and some delicious chocolates. I ate way too many and the next day noticed Maika was rather fussy. I thought it could possibly be the caffeine in the dark chocolate, but thought maybe it was just that he didn't sleep well. On Wednesday I had more chocolate. Again, Bean had a rough night's sleep, lots of gas and no naps on Thursday. He definitely reacts to chocolate. Poor guy. I hate that I made him have a bad day. I am getting to the point here...Bean had a rough night and was up early. I took him for a long walk hoping he would fall asleep. He did, but only for about 20 minutes. We came in and were playing. For some reason, I decided to check in his mouth and see if there might be any teeth beginning to surface (he has been drooling a lot and really going to town on his fingers). To my shock and utter dismay, I felt something sharp!

Later in the day, Maika and I met our dear friends Alicia, and her adorable daughter Linnea at San Tan mall to hit up the Gymboree sale. I made Alicia check Maika's mouth. She concurred that she felt what seemed to be a tooth starting to break through. I have been holding back tears. I am not ready for my baby to be grown up enough to have teeth! I guess it is time for baby toothpaste :(

Cloth vs. Disposable Diapers

This is an exciting day! I ordered cloth diapers for our little Bean! Not everyone is as excited about this as I am, including my husband. Personally, I can't wait until my diapers arrive and we can get started. I couldn't fall asleep last night thinking about diapers...

I decided to go with GroVia diapers (formerly Grobaby). I ordered the all in two (AI2). What is an AI2? It is a waterproof shell that one snaps a cotton "soaker" inside. In order to change the diaper, just snap out the soaker and snap in a new one. I found a good deal on bumritediapers. I ordered 12 shells, 24 soakers, 8 boosters, 2 large wet bags, 1 medium wet bag, GroVia diaper balm, a few backs of bio soakers, a pack of bio liners, and a toilet sprayer. This cost us close to $500, but this should last through potty training. By my calculations if the Beanster is potty trained at two years, we will at least break even. If he is potty trained at three years, we will save a considerable amount of money! It may be possible some of these supplies could be used for a second baby. I was impressed that the owner of Bumrite called me to discuss diapers! This company is a home business run by a cloth diapering mom in Napa, CA.

Why switch from disposables to cloth, you ask? Well, I debated about this before Bean was born and did research on both. I found there may be some links to chemicals in disposable diapers and infertility (although this hasn't been proven that I know of). I was also concerned about Maika's scrotum temperature being too high in disposables that don't breathe (graphic, but this was/is a concern for me). Another reason is that it seems every time I turn around I hear of someone who has cancer. Could it be due to all the chemicals in our health/beauty products? We decided to go with disposables because we travel a lot and thought with the plastic cover cloth might not be that breathable after all.

Disposable diapering has been going OK, but I still have concerns about chemicals in the diapers. Mr. Bean often pees through his diaper and I wipe a lot of diaper gel beads off of him. I have also looked at some cloth diapers and feel they are more breathable than disposables.

I was actually trying to decide if Costco diapers or diapers from Amazon were more cost effective, when I found GroVia diapers on Costco's web site. When comparing the cost, it seemed like maybe the cloth diapers would save us some money and give me a little more peace of mind. I also like the idea of not filling up landfills with lots of diapers. To sum up, we are going with cloth for three reasons 1). health of our baby 2). cost and 3). environmental concerns. I understand not everyone wants to cloth diaper and most babies will probably be completely healthy in disposables. This just seems like the right choice for us and is something I feel good about doing. I will let you know how it goes!